2026 Election

Margaret (Maggie) Wessling (she/her) is Senior Conservator and Head of Photograph Conservation at the National Gallery of Art, where she has led the photograph conservation program since 2023. Maggie holds a Master of Arts and an Advanced Certificate in the Conservation of Art and Historic Artifacts from New York University and a Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University. She has worked at a range of museums, libraries, and private practices, including the National Museum of African American History and Culture, The Northeast Document Conservation Center, and the New York University Libraries. Maggie has been a dedicated contributor to AIC and FAIC for nearly a decade. She served on the FAIC Collaborative Workshops in Photograph Conservation Committee from 2017 to 2023, serving as Chair from 2018 to 2023. She has been a member of the Education and Training Committee since 2023, serving as Chair from 2024 to 2025, where she shepherded a new initiative for foundational skills training that included the 2025 series on inclusive mentorship practices.

What goals do you have for your tenure, and what will you bring to the role to work towards them?

The continuing education we offer to members is one of the most powerful tools we have for engaging and sustaining AIC membership. I am interested in serving as Board Director of Professional Education for the opportunity to cultivate impactful continuing education offerings that serve the entirety of the AIC membership. As Board Director of Professional Education, I will have two primary goals. First, to encourage participation and collaboration across the specialty groups, committees and networks in developing programs. Second, to work with AIC and FAIC staff to streamline the process for proposing, developing, and realizing training opportunities. By removing barriers to the proposal process and encouraging cross-specialty collaboration, we can ensure that professional development opportunities are appealing and useful to as many members as possible.

During my tenure on the FAIC Collaborative Workshop in Photograph Conservation Committee, I came to understand how FAIC supports the training goals of the AIC membership, and I advocated for workshops and symposia that would impact a broader array of conservators than simply those specializing in photographs. An example was the support I provided for the 2023 symposium Photomechanical Prints: History, Technology, Aesthetics, and Use, organized by Alisha Chipman, which brought together conservators from multiple specialties, alongside curators, historians, and artists. Such programs are a shining example of delivering high-quality content to AIC members and building community and advocacy for the field beyond our membership organization.

My service on the Education and Training Committee has further broadened my view of the training needs across the field, and it has given me a perspective on the needs of conservators at different points in their careers. Through my work on this committee it became clear that training opportunities for so-called foundational (or “soft”) skills were particularly difficult to support. Working with FAIC, I advocated

for funding and helped to design a series of workshops to be delivered from 2025 to 2027. A primary goal for this series is to create workshops applicable to members in all specialties and at all career stages. A secondary goal is to produce content that can be published online and remain accessible following the in-person events. The first year of this program was realized with a series of three workshops on inclusive mentorship practices, taught by Alisha Andrews-Simmons and organized by Céline Wachsmuth and Jennifer McGough. The in-person trainings, which reached over 150 members, was followed by an online self-study module that will remain accessible and free to members. The second year of this program is currently in development and will focus on advocacy and fundraising.

Continuing education is a cornerstone of conservation practice, and access to a variety of training opportunities is especially important as AIC evolves its Professional Membership system. My extensive experience within AIC education committees gives me the requisite insight to effectively perform the role of Board Director for Professional Education.

Gregory Bailey graduated in 2011 from Buffalo State College with an M.A. and C.A.S. in Art Conservation with a focus on the conservation of objects. Since that time, he has been awarded a Kress Fellowship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and a Mellon Fellowship at the Walters Art Museum, where he also went on to work as Associate Conservator. He is the 2016-2017 recipient of the Booth Family Rome Prize in Historic Preservation and Conservation. From 2017 to 2019, Greg served as Objects Conservator for the Smithsonian American Art Museum and Renwick Gallery. Greg returned to the Walters Art Museum in 2019 as Senior Objects Conservator. Greg is a Professional Member of the American Institute for Conservation (AIC), for which he also serves on the Board of Directors. Greg is also chapter chair of his workplace union, Walters Workers United, AFSCME Local 930. 

What goals do you have for your tenure, and what will you bring to the role to work towards them?

While it is difficult to know what may unfold in the wider world in the next three years, changes are certainly afoot. Our organization continues to evolve to better reflect changes in the field of cultural heritage preservation and to better meet the needs of our members. In my second tenure as Director, Specialty Groups, I look forward to working with members across the organization to continue to lower barriers to entry into the field, support emerging and early career professionals, work to de-silo Specialty Groups, Networks, and Committees, provide members with broader access to information and programming, and ensure the financial health of the organization while providing more equitable financial support for the activities of all groups across the organization. The next three years will see the implementation of Continuing Professional Development requirements for Professional Members, and I aim to work to ensure it is rolled out smoothly. Our Code of Ethics and Core Documents remain under review, and I pledge to ensure that Specialty Groups and individual members have opportunities to review and provide input on forthcoming drafts.

Continuing in my role as Director, Specialty Groups, I bring my experience and working relationships with Specialty Group leaders, my fellow board members, and our dedicated staff. 2026 marks my 19^th year as an AIC member- I have learned an extraordinary amount through the organization during that time and met so many amazing colleagues and friends. I look forward to continuing to give back to the organization and support our Specialty Group leaders and members across AIC as we build and sustain a brighter future.

Marieka Kaye is the Director of Preservation Services, Physical Collections, for the University of Michigan Library, where she also serves as the primary conservator for the Michigan papyrus collection, the largest in North America. She earned an MA and Certificate of Advanced Study in Art Conservation from SUNY Buffalo State, as well as a Master of Library and Information Science from San Jose State University. Marieka’s career in library preservation began in 1998 during her senior year at Brandeis University. Prior to joining the U-M Library in 2013, she spent eight years as a conservator at The Huntington Library.

I would be grateful for the chance to support colleagues as the next Book and Paper Group Chair for the American Institute for Conservation. Having previously served as BPG Secretary/Treasurer, I appreciate the importance of teamwork, learning from each other, and making everyone feel welcome. I admire the wide range of experience among group members and believe that exchanging ideas helps everyone grow. If selected as Chair, I hope to encourage more open sharing of research, listen carefully to member voices, and help continue building a friendly, inclusive environment. I look forward to advocating for group interests, creating opportunities for meaningful discussion, and supporting the BPG’s publications, meetings, and professional development for all members.

Stephanie Lussier is the sole Paper Conservator at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden where she addresses the needs of the art on paper and photographs collections, often working collaboratively across disciplines to inform the care and conservation of the museum’s contemporary art. She holds an M.A. with a Certificate of Advanced Study in Art Conservation, with a specialization in paper conservation, awarded by Buffalo State College, and a B.F.A. awarded by Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Stephanie has been actively engaged in service to the American Institute for Conservation (AIC) since 2004 when she served on a Book and Paper Group (BPG) bibliographic search committee and subsequently co-chaired a working group to explore migrating the Paper Conservation Catalog to a digital format; she was a founding co-chair of BPG’s Art on Paper Discussion Group. As Chair of the Education and Training Committee (ETC) and then as Board Director, Professional Education, Stephanie advised on long-term goals and planning related to professional development and supported the funding and development of educational programming for the membership.

My strong passion for education has guided my professional service activities, and member advocacy has been at the forefront—whether elevating the voices of emerging conservators, developing recommendations to strengthen peer-reviewed designations through my work on the Member Designation Working Group, or supporting access-broadening initiatives as an early contributor to the AIC wiki or as a member of the FAIC/NEH Held in Trust Initiative Education and Training Working Group.

As AIC navigates economical, ideological, and access challenges, if elected BPG Chair, as a long-standing member of the Book and Paper Group with myriad leadership experience in various roles in AIC, I hope to be a bridge during this time of change by bringing knowledge of the history of the organization and the BPG to support the goals, vision, contributions, and programming of the group as a whole and of its individual members through dialogue, advocacy, and collaboration.

Sonia is an Associate Conservator and Professional Member of the American Institute of Conservation (AIC). She holds an MS in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage from University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne, Paris, with a specialization in objects conservation. In 2016, she earned a bachelor’s degree in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage from the Escola Superior de Conservacio i Restauracio de Bens Culturals de Catalunya (ESCRBCC). With over seven years of professional experience, Sonia is experienced in the treatment of plaster, stone, terracotta, and polychrome wood. Prior to joining RLA, she spent one year at Atelier d'Autan in Toulouse, France, where she worked on the conservation of interior decorative painted surfaces. During that time, she participated in several restoration projects, including work at Notre-Dame de la Daurade in Toulouse and the Musee Ingres Bourdelle in Montauban, both classified historic monuments. Since joining RLA in early 2021, Sonia has led numerous conservation projects involving outdoor sculpture, private and public collections, and contemporary artworks. She works closely with museums such as The Broad and Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles. She has directed conservation projects at Mission San Gabriel Arcangel and at the China Alley Preservation Society, with particular focus on soot mitigation and the treatment of fire-damaged historic interior finishes. In collaboration with Christina Varvi, Sonia recently published an article in the Objects Specialty Group Postprints (Jacksonville, 2023) titled “Angels Rising from the Ashes: Conserving the Fire-Damaged Reredos and Sculptures at Mission San Gabriel.” She is dedicated to contributing to the evolving field of objects and contemporary art conservation through practice, research, and professional engagement.

I am interested in serving in this role because I value the network’s role in fostering collaboration among professionals and addressing the evolving challenges of contemporary art. Working as an objects conservator, often with modern and contemporary sculpture and mixed-media works, I understand the importance of fostering a strong community of conservators, that has a structured organization, for the continuity in advancing our field. I am particularly interested in volunteering as Vice Chair particularly because the role centers on coordination and support for the community of conservators. Working in private practice, I routinely manage complex treatment projects that involve multiple stakeholders—curators, registrars, fabricators, and artist’ studios. These projects require consistent communication skills, clear documentation, and patience to support all those involved. I am comfortable organizing meetings, setting agendas, tracking action items, and maintaining timelines to ensure that collaborative efforts remain focused and productive. I would bring strong organizational skills, attention to detail, and a proactive approach to project management. I maintain structured documentation systems and am accustomed to balancing multiple concurrent projects with overlapping deadlines. I am also comfortable facilitating meetings when needed and supporting teams by clarifying goals and next steps. My working style is collaborative, transparent, and solution oriented. I am motivated to contribute with my experience in contemporary conservation and my commitment to thoughtful organization and collaborative leadership. I would be honored to support CAN!’s growth within AIC. I am also interested in encouraging broader participation from early-career professionals and those working in diverse practice settings. I appreciate your time and consideration and would be grateful for the opportunity to contribute as Vice Chair.

Olivia Schoenfeld is a contemporary art conservator and founder of Atelier OJS for Art Conservation, her freelancing venture that offers specialized conservation and cultural heritage-related services. She currently serves as Secretary and Treasurer for the Contemporary Art Network of the American Institute for Conservation. In 2025, Olivia completed the post-master's Advanced Professional Program at the University of Amsterdam, following her 2023 Master’s degree in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage, specializing in contemporary art. Her more recent research explored the intricacies of disk imaging computer-based artworks, and her Master’s thesis addressed the vulnerabilities and prospects of blockchain-based artworks through a case study risk assessment. Olivia has held postgraduate trainee positions at the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (Amersfoort), LI-MA (Amsterdam), and Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art (Brisbane). She holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and a Bachelor of Arts in Art History from the State University of New York at Geneseo, awarded in May 2021.

I am interested in serving the role of CAN! Vice Chair for the 2026-2028 term. Since Summer 2022, I have been affiliated with CAN! through the Emerging Conservation Professional Network co-liaison, the Abstract Review Committee, and the Secretary & Treasurer positions. I have seen the Vice Chair position in action over the years and appreciate the work they have accomplished in spearheading, shaping, and planning the various programming CAN! offers. I hope that through serving as Vice Chair, I can continue to assist the CAN! Chair and help the network stay on track through our project-tracking system. I am a very detail-oriented and organized individual, qualities that I believe would make me a strong Vice Chair. I will be moving back to the States in Summer 2026, making it even easier for me to stay connected with fellow CAN! officers through our monthly board meetings, without any time-zone issues! My priorities for future programming would be to maintain the great work of the previous Vice Chair while implementing any new processes that may improve CAN!’s ongoing projects and timelines. I would love to continue updating the CAN! Officers’ Handbook as a resource to incoming officers and documentation of our network’s history and wonderful programming.

Ameya Grant joined the conservation team responsible for the renovation of the Tang Wing for Modern and Contemporary galleries at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2025. Prior to this, she was a member of the conservation team responsible for the renovation of the Ancient Near East and Cypriot galleries at The Met from 2023-2025. Ameya holds a BS in chemistry with a minor in art history from the State University of New York at New Paltz, and a dual MS/MA degree in conservation and art history from the New York University Institute of Fine Arts Conservation Center. She has completed pre-program and graduate internships at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Park Service Harper’s Ferry Center; she has also conducted archaeological fieldwork in Turkey and Egypt. Throughout her professional journey, Ameya has pursued training in the treatment of decorative arts and inorganic archaeological objects. 

In the OSG position, I would like to work with the colleagues on this team to create enriching and meaningful discourses between members of the OSG and the broader AIC community about current treatment methodologies, the use of innovative instrumentation and/or equipment in treatment and the examination of cultural heritage objects, as well as highlighting research endeavors being conducted throughout the conservation field through monthly/seasonal in person or online events as well as at the AIC meeting. Outside of my day to day activities as a Capital Projects Conservator at the Met, I work with the Education Department to put together activities and events for individuals interested in objects conservation. Each year the objects conservation education team I now lead (as of Fall 2025) will put together an event for Teens Take the Met or informal educational outreach events to teens, undergraduate, and graduate students. I believe the skills I have with collaborating with other departments to produce interactive and educational events for the objects conservation department would transfer well to creating the general meeting program or pop up events for the OSG members. I would like to focus on topics that I’m particularly drawn to with future programming, such as imaging [multiband/multispectral Imaging of archaeological and related objects] and the creation of environmentally sustainable conservation practices in large scale projects [i.e renovations of galleries or entire institutions] across cultural heritage institutions of the U.S. and abroad.

Louise Stewart Beck completed her conservation training at the Institute of Archaeology at University College London. She currently works for The Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan. She has worked previously at the Edsel & Eleanor Ford House in Grosse Pointe Shores, Michigan, on IMLS projects at The Henry Ford, and for the Science Museum in London, U.K.

I am interested in serving OSG because I believe in the importance of putting my energy into organizations from which I have gained support. AIC's annual conference is one of my favorite times of the year, I always find myself reinvigorated and with many new ideas afterwards. I would love the opportunity to help shape the conference by serving as the Assistant Program Chair. For many years I have been involved with the Michigan Museums Assocation, and have worked on the planning and programming for that conference, growing skills in the logistics and decision-making process for programming an event that caters to many different viewpoints. My priorities within programming for the OSG would include an expanded exploration of the ethics and challenges of conservation in the current political, economic, and social climate in addition to a continuing focus on the practical aspects of objects conservation.

Marcie Wiggins is the Schorr Family Associate Research Scientist at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. After earning a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and art history from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2014, she received her Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from the University of Delaware, where she studied copper-based pigments using spectroscopic methods in collaboration with the Winterthur Museum. Her doctoral research was supervised by Dr. Karl Booksh, a spectroscopist and chemometrician, and Dr. Jocelyn Alcántara-García, a conservation scientist.

Wiggins previously held internships at the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute, and the Rijksmuseum. She later served as a Postdoctoral Associate at Yale University’s Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage (IPCH), focusing on scanning X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, associated data processing, and integrating XRF scanning results with other spectroscopic analyses, both in situ and sample-based. She subsequently became an Assistant Conservation Scientist and Diana Luv Chen Fellow at IPCH.

She has experience working with fine art, natural history, and library collections and has collaborated with institutions worldwide. She also has teaching and mentoring experience in conservation education programs at the University of Delaware (WUDPAC) and the University of Pretoria.

As an early to mid-career conservation scientist, I would like to contribute to and engage more with the conservation and conservation science community through AIC and RATS. RATS is an intersection between conservators and scientists, and I would like to help bolster the discussions and collaborations about research originating from the group. I especially care about strengthening the community for students and other early-career scientists, such as working with ECPN and providing more opportunities for aspiring conservation scientists to share their work. I have experience in organizing and leading a community-driven instrument user group meeting and regular in-house webinars for the Yale University conservation community. My experience with a range of objects and collaboration with many curators and conservators from different backgrounds makes me well qualified to engage with the broad membership of RATS and AIC, so I am hoping to use that experience to generate content that would be appreciated by a wider audience. I am committed to the field and would appreciate the opportunity to serve as assistant program chair of RATS followed by its subsequent roles.

Awyn Rileybird (they/them) is an Associate Conservator focusing on the care of textiles at Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont. Awyn also leads strategic preventive conservation initiatives across the museum’s 45-acre campus with 42 buildings holding a diverse collection of over 100,000 objects. Prior to working with Shelburne Museum, Awyn was an Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in Textile Conservation at the National Museum of the American Indian and provided sabbatical coverage as a Professorial Lecturer teaching Preventive Conservation Techniques at George Washington University. Awyn graduated from the Winterthur/ University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation and completed their third year with the Textile Museum, Washington, DC. Awyn also holds a Master of Letters in Technical Art History from the University of Glasgow, supported by a US-UK Fulbright Award and conducting their thesis research on the analysis of historic ship models at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

I would be delighted to serve as the Textile Specialty Group Treasurer. I have benefited so much from TSG’s resources and advocacy efforts, and I would like to give something back through a term of service. Living in Vermont, a somewhat isolated location with very few conservation professionals, working with TSG would be an exciting opportunity to make meaningful connections with colleagues. Prior to working in conservation, I worked as a conference organizer and research event planner. In these roles I was responsible for managing budgets over $75,000. I am well-organized, good with math, and happy to run for the TSG Treasurer position.

Katherine Shark is currently the Polaire Weissman Conservation Fellow for The Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. She studies the use of synthetic coatings and early plastics in fashion objects, researching potential treatments to address their unique condition issues. Her past experiences include the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum and The Museum at FIT. Katherine is also interested in pattern making and garment re-creations in conservation and has taken patterns and created several muslin recreations of museum objects. She currently is completing her Qualifying Project, a treatment of a 1972 Courreges ensemble, for FIT's Fashion and Textiles masters program. Pre-graduate school, she worked in public libraries, taught sewing lessons, and did patternmaking.

I am detail-oriented and prioritize organization and clarity in my work. I understand the importance of accessibility and communication in any professional organization and aim to use these skills to ensure TSG's budget is managed competently and that anyone can feel confident asking questions and understanding the allocation of funds. My ability to work meticulously and maintain structured organizational systems that makes information legible not just for me, but for others, makes me a strong candidate for the position of Treasurer. I am excited for the opportunity to support the work of the TSG in this role.